Mike Brown sent the New York Knicks a message ahead of Sunday night's game against the Orlando Magic. Pregame, the head coach told reporters at Madison Square Garden that only five spots in his rotation were taken. He didn't name the players, according to SNY's Ian Begley. But anyone who caught the reigning champs in action knows Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns have the gigs.
Brown made clear that the rest of the roles in the Knicks' rotation — however many he eventually deems necessary — are all up for grabs. He backed it up during the game, too, opting to play third-string center James Wiseman over Andre Drummond for seven minutes.
Drummond said after the game that the coaching staff didn't explain his reduction in role to him ahead of time, adding — according to Stefan Bondy of The Post — that he likely wasn't even owed an explanation. The benching won't be permanent, but might just be the beginning of Brown's cultural foundation for a repeat. The coach has the experience, and this was never supposed to be easy.
Drummond's benching was Brown answering the center's effort vs. BOS
On Sunday night, Drummond played a total of seven minutes, tallying four points, three rebounds, and two assists in his time on the floor. It all came in the first half of the game. Brown said after the game that, while a few of Drummond's early plays stood out for the wrong reasons, there was more to the 33-year-old's stay on the sidelines.
The coach referenced the extended stretch of play that he gave Drummond on opening night against the Philadelphia 76ers, which produced diminishing returns in the form of an exhausted second-half performance from the veteran. And while Brown didn't reference the team's second game of the season, on the road against the Boston Celtics, the team had their fair share of defensive lapses.
Looking for better transition defense, Brown went with the 25-year-old Wiseman. The center frankly looked outmatched and overwhelmed in his limited run, rendering the experiment definitively ineffective from a certain perspective. On the other side, however, was a veteran in Drummond who learned — the hard way — that Brown is ready to uphold the standards he's preached in practice.
Being benched in the third game of the season, en route to the team's third loss of the season, was likely not in Drummond's plans when he signed with the Knicks this offseason. If this helps lead to a locked-in version of the center later in the season, though, it'll be another impressive feather in Brown's cap.
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